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Child welfare and related professionals often struggle to find parent education programs and modalities that can help at-risk parents make long-lasting changes in their parenting practices. This article describes The Video Home Training (VHT) and Video Interaction Guidance (VIG), two evidence-based, strengths-based programs that rely on video feedback that have shown promising results for parents and others.
As described in earlier articles, children whose parents have higher income and education levels are more likely to grow up in stable two-parent households than their economically disadvantaged counterparts. These widening gaps in fathers' involvement in parenting and in the quality and stability of parents' relationships may reinforce disparities in outcomes for the next generation. This paper reviews evidence about the effectiveness of two strategies to strengthen fathers' involvement and family relationships-- fatherhood programs aimed at disadvantaged noncustodial fathers and relationship…
Intended for court appointed special advocate volunteers and guardians ad litem, this guide offers practice tips for identifying and engaging fathers in cases involving child clients. It begins by describing the benefits of father involvement, including improving children's quality of life and providing children with adult connections. Barriers to father engagement are identified and a framework for involving fathers in children's lives is offered. Strategies discussed include: help to identify and locate the father, encourage the agency to find missing parents, assess whether the father…
Brief
As a children's attorney or lawyer guardian ad litem (GAL), your advocacy should include efforts to engage fathers in child welfare cases. Many of your child clients' biological fathers may not live with them when CPS becomes involved with the family. Or, the father may not be accused of abuse or neglect when CPS intervenes. This guide offers practice tips to identify and engage these fathers in your child clients' cases. Some of this material may also be useful when working with noncustodial mothers or custodial fathers. The information and tips will help you make informed recommendations…
Family Expectations (FE) is a program in Oklahoma City designed to strengthen the relationships of low-income couples who are expecting a baby or have just had a baby. For all families, this period is typically full of promise but also vulnerability. FE is one of eight sites that are participating in a large national evaluation of Building Strong Families (BSF), a federally funded program for unmarried parents. The underlying rationale for BSF is that relationship skills education and family support services provided to unmarried parents in a romantic relationship will help them learn how to…
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between multipartnered fertility (MPF) -- when parents have children with more than one partner -- and depression. Random-effects models suggest that MPF is associated with a greater likelihood of depression, net of family structure and other covariates. However, these associations disappear in more conservative fixed-effects models that estimate changes in MPF as a function of changes in depression. Results also suggest that social selection may account for the link between MPF and depression, as…
Nonmarital childbearing has increased dramatically in the U.S. since the early 1960s, rising from 6% of all births in 1960 to fully 40% in 2007 (Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2009). Whereas similar trends have occurred in many developed nations, the U.S. stands out in the extent to which such births are associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and relationship instability. This has given rise to a new term "fragile families," which we define as unmarried couples who have a child together. The increase in fragile families reflects changes not only in the initial context of births but also…
Brief
This Practice Sheet summarises and builds upon the findings from the Engaging Fathers study (Berlyn, Wise, & Soriano, 2008). It provides ideas for practitioners and policy-makers about how to increase engagement of fathers in child and family services and programs. (Author abstract)
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This Resource Guide was written to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide includes information about protective factors that help reduce the risk of child maltreatment, strategies for changing how communities support families, and evidence-informed practices. It also offers suggestions for enhancing protective factors in families, tools to build awareness and develop community partnerships, information about child abuse and neglect, a directory of national organizations that…
The Index is the first of its kind, drawing on OECD data and validated by an international advisory panel. It ranks 21 countries on a set of 10 'family fairness' indicators, including parental leave, the ratio of men's to women's time spent caring for children, the proportion of women in management roles, the percentage of men in the part-time workforce and the amount of time spent by men and women doing unpaid domestic work. (Author abstract)
